It’s always been my honor to play games like Call of Duty and then immediately interview the game developers who brought the game to life. I had that privilege again, playing all of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 at Infinity Ward’s headquarters in Los Angeles.

And so, of course, I squandered the time asking idiosyncratic questions that made them wonder why they spared the time for the interview. And in the end, my wandering around actually turned out to be pretty interesting. As they were preparing me, and I am preparing you, to recognize that there are some things that come to an end.

I played most of the campaign (and have since finished it) and then interviewed Alex Norris, associate design director; and Justin Harris, lead narrative designer. I loved the net result, but I wanted to hear them fully explain the tough choices they made in development.

At the outset, I asked how they thought about weaving an open world section into the campaign in the midst of a very tight narrative about a squad of inexperienced South Korean grunts who are thrust into battle in the middle of a full-scale North Korean invasion of the south. You follow the story of the squad that plays a role in the massive battles, but you’re also diverted to the north, behind enemy lines, to wreak havoc in one region.

It struck me as a jarring change to the pace of the campaign, and they acknowledged that. It was a candid conversation where they answered more questions than I thought they would.

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